


Witchy business

by Blak3R1ght



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2020-02-29 11:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18777007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blak3R1ght/pseuds/Blak3R1ght
Summary: When Alison’s mysterious cousin stays at the Manor House, the ghosts figure out that she can see them. Will they figure out why? And would doing so open up a Pandora’s Box that they wished they hadn’t opened?





	1. The Letter

A/N: my first ever Fanfiction (that I’ve published anywhere); please give me you’re feedback and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated- how else will I get better?

Chapter 1- The Letter.

As Alison woke up that morning she thought to herself that it was going to be a perfectly ordinary day (well, aside from the ghosts that haunted the Manor but at this point even that was considered to be normal routine). She and Mike had just settled in to eat breakfast when Kitty bounded in the room “There’s post for you! Oh, I wonder who it could be?! Is it one of your many admirers?! Don't worry- I won’t tell Mike” she stage whispered.

“An admirer?” Thomas suddenly came up from seemingly nowhere making Alison jump. “Dearest Alison, please reconsider corresponding with this rogue- you would be much happier with someone sensitive and caring, who will write you Poetry and tell you how wonderful you are!” he exclaimed before dropping on a chair dramatically.

“First of all- no” said Alison pointing her finger at Thomas. “Second of all, this is just a letter from my cousin from Scotland asking if she could stay in this fancy Manor House she’d heard I’d inherited; I have no idea how she heard that as I never actually told anyone I had this place but whatever- what do you think Mike?” Alison turned her attention to her absentminded husband.

“What?” Mike looked up from his Cornflakes.

“Have you even been listening to a word I’ve been saying?” asked Alison, annoyed.

“Yeah, a cousin wants to come see the place” said Mike “ I do listen to you, you know!”

“Sorry” a apologetic Alison muttered. “So, can she come see the place? It might be good to have more human company around- not that you guys aren’t great!” She hastily tried to reassure the ghosts in the room.

“It’s fine, no harm done.” said Pat

“Well, actually-” began Julian before being shushed quickly by Pat.

“I don’t want any more people in my house!” exclaimed an angry Fanny.

“It’ll only be for a week a most” said Alison “ I remember Rebecca from when we were kids; she was lovely. Though she did distance herself when she got accepted into that fancy private school. Why was that?” Alison wondered aloud before shaking herself free of that thought. “It doesn’t matter, she’s coming and that’s final!” which that, Alison went to find a pen to respond to the letter.

The next few days were a flurry of activity in the house, with the human inhabitants getting one of the bedrooms in the West Wing ready for use (thankfully Alison had spoken to all of the ghosts to ensure that Rebecca could use it and that it wasn’t one that they had ‘claimed’).

Finally, the anticipated day of Rebecca’s arrival came around and all the ghosts gathered around an upstairs window to watch the woman step out of the Taxi, a fairly average sized woman wearing jeans and a hoodie stepped out. She had short hair styled into what could be described as a pixie cut. Alison stepped out to greet her.

“Hi! How are you doing? Oh it’s been ages! You need to meet my husband Mike! Come on.” Alison prattled on, not allowing the other woman to get a words in edgeways as she was led to the front door.

“She’s… beautiful!” exclaimed Thomas as they watched Rebecca from the window.

“Oh lord; here we go…” muttered the Captain.

Then, the most extraordinary thing happened; as the woman was walking towards the front door she happened to look up to where the ghosts were standing and… she stopped.

“Can… can she SEE us?!” muttered an astonished Kitty.

“Don’t be silly; of course she can’t!” said Fanny, although she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself as much as she was Kitty.

“We will observe further to ascertain whether this woman can in fact see us or not” said the Captain, sounding as though he was in shock himself.

“This may very well be a good thing y’know? Having another living person who can see us- really exiting stuff!” exclaimed Pat, sounding almost euphoric.

“It be witchcraft!” said Mary.

Now, now everyone- don’t be unreasonable; we don’t even know if she can see us or not.” Said the Captain; trying to keep everyone from panicking.

“What’s going on?!” asked the head of Humphrey, who was currently being held by Thomas.

“Listen, we’ll devise a plan on how to deal with this situation later- for now let’s figure out if she can actually SEE us before doing anything else.” piped up Julian who, up to this point, had been conspicuously silent.

“That… has to be the most logical thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Said an astonished Captain.

“Yes, well, I wasn’t elected as a highly successful Prime Minister for my looks you know!” boasted Julian. “You know, one time my secretary and I-”.

The Captain cleared his throat loudly “Yes, thank you Julian! So, to recap- we do nothing until we figure out if the woman can see us, yes?” He waited for a moment “Yes?” He insisted.

“Yes.” said Pat.

“Of coarse.” said Kitty.

“Undoubtedly.” said Fanny.

“Sure, whatever.” said Julian (“This was your plan!” insisted the Captain).

“I will try and restrain myself from talking to such beauty.” said Thomas.

“What are we talking about again?” asked Humphrey.

“Eh, sure.” Robin grumbled.

The Captain looked over them all, nodded and then motioned them to follow him.

While all of this was happening, Rebecca was staring at the window and Alison noticed that she wasn’t following inside.

“Are you ok?” asked Alison, concerned.

“What? Yeah, I’m ok, I was just admiring your house- very pretty!” she exclaimed, obviously nervous.

“O…kay?” Alison sounded confused but let it go. “Lets go inside yeah? Lots to see inside too!”

“This should be interesting.” Rebecca thought as she was led inside. “Ghosts are in the Manor- the question is, are they friendly?” Her hand tightened on her concealed wand “and what do I do if they're not?”

A/N: So, what did you think about it? Should I write more? I know I didn’t put a lot of Robin or Humphrey in this- honestly I didn’t know what to do with them.


	2. Introductions

Chapter 2- Introductions

“Mike!” Alison called up the main hallways stairs.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“Rebecca’s here- come meet her!.” Alison tried to coax Mike down.

“Coming!” Mike called back.

The sound of footsteps resounded down the upstairs hall before Rebecca spotted a dark skinned man at the top of the stairs- obviously the mysterious Mike.

“Hey, I’m Mike” he stated as he came down the stairs.

“My name’s Rebecca Wilson, I’m Alison’s cousin- my mum is her mums sister.” explained Rebecca.

“You never told me your mum had a sister.” said Mike, confused.

“Yeah, she died when we were really young- my dad raised me practically alone really” said Rebecca.

“Mum didn’t really like talking about auntie Claudia and, to be fair, I never really asked” said Alison.

“So, a tour of the inside, yeah?” asked Mike. “Sorry I can’t stay, Alison asked me to do something upstairs” he said and went back up where he had just come from.

“Sure, why not?” Rebecca allowed herself to be led down the hall ‘It may mean that I can see more of these mysterious ghosts that are around’ she thought to herself.

“So” began Alison “this is the kitchen- ignore the lights, most of the wiring is faulty so if it starts sparking don’t be alarmed”. To Rebecca, Alison seemed to be panicking somewhat.

‘Is Alison aware of the ghostly activity that’s occurring and has just rationalised it?’ thought Rebecca.

‘Nice save Alison, now she won’t question it when Robin starts messing with her.’ thought Alison, proud of herself for thinking about that on the spot.

Afterwards, Alison led her around the other places in the downstairs of the house.

“What about the upstairs- can we go up there?” questioned Rebecca; hoping she could see the ghosts that had so far been avoiding her.

Alison suddenly looked uncomfortable (as she’d asked the more ghostly residents to stay upstairs for the time being- mainly to avoid her being distracted while talking to her cousin. So far they’d been amicable to the agreement but Alison didn’t know how she’d cope with having to juggle talking to her cousins during dealing with the ghosts antics without looking insane).

“I… would prefer we not- Mike’s doing renovating up there and I don’t want to disturb him.” Alison life.

“Oh really?” asked Rebecca, suspicion suddenly colouring her voice “and why haven’t we heard anything since he went back upstairs?”  
”Um, w-well…” Alison stuttered, not knowing how to get out of the lie.

Mike suddenly bounded down the stairs looking breathless “Sorry I took such a long tea-break Alison; I’ll get right back to doing… what it was I was… doing” he finished lamely before going back upstairs.

“So!” Alison exclaimed “Do you want a proper tour of the grounds?” She didn’t allow Rebecca to reply before pushing her towards the front door “Yes? Then let’s go see them!” Alison definitely sounded incredibly nervous to Rebecca.

‘Something is definitely not right here!’ thought Rebecca ‘I have to meet these ghosts and figure out the best course of action to take.’

Meanwhile, up in the usual meeting spot for the ghosts, they were still trying to figure out their own plan on how to deal with the new house guest.

“I suggest talk to her first” suggested Pat “we need to know if she can see us, and what’s the best way to do that than to just ask.”

“No, we mustn’t; we could be putting ourselves at risk- we don’t know what this woman’s motives are and if it does turn out she can see us then we will have to be extremely cautious.” Reasoned the Captain “We don’t know if this woman is in any way like Alison- she could be dangerous!”

“What if she tries to… kill us.” whispered Kitty.

“We’re already dead; it won’t do us much harm if she tries to murder us a second time; honestly!” grumbled Fanny, annoyed by Kitty’s naïveté.

“If she is anything like dear Alison then there is no way that such kind heart and beautiful soul could harm any of us!” exclaimed Thomas. (“Will you stop lusting after every woman you see please?” uttered Julian).

“You don’t understand- it’s True Love!” said Thomas before dramatically exiting the room.

“So, any other ideas on how to deal with this- I’m happy to hear suggestions.” implored the Captain.

“Kill the witch!” said Mary. (“NO!” a panicked Captain exclaimed.)

“No not really- I kind of want to see how this plays out.” Said Julian (“Not helping!” an annoyed Captain pointed out).

“Anyone?” a desperate Captain tried to spur the other ghosts.

“Fine!” the Captain shouted as the other ghosts left the room. “Go do… other things while I try and actually figure out a plan!”.

Nightfall

After Alison had finally allowed Rebecca to go back inside (and had confirmed with Mike that the mysterious ‘renovations’ had been done; she had finally been allowed upstairs to go to bed. Rebecca was so tired that she just got into bed and fell asleep. ‘I’ll figure out the ghost situation tomorrow’ was her last thought before falling asleep… until she was woken up an undefined amount of time later to the feeling of being watched.

Rebecca vainly tried to see in the darkness before giving up and picking up her wand from the nightstand.

“Lumos” she muttered, from the Wands light she saw a man who appeared to be in his mid 20s in Regency era clothing.

“Who the hell are you?” she demanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- So, what did you think of this chapter? I can’t believe the positive response I got for this! Really, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed and left Kudos on this silly little story.


	3. Revelations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note- I’m sorry it took so long to get this chapter out; life and (if I’m being honest) writers block got in the way. I hope you like it anyway. Feedback is always appreciated!

Chapter 3- Revelations.

Thomas and Rebecca stared at each other.

“My name is Thomas Thorne; greatest poet of my time with a life that was tragically cut short before my genius could be realised!” Thomas crowed. “Come on; I’ll acquaint you with the other ghosts as I now know that you are, in fact, able to see us.” before Rebecca was able to react any further Thomas had walked through the wall into the adjacent room.

She sighed “Nox.” she muttered before following him out the door.

“Thomas!” she hissed “I don’t know where you are!”

Suddenly, a man dressed as an army officer appeared in front of her and she jumped.

Um… hello?” she whispered, sounding unsure.

“Ah yes, well come along then- the others are in there.” The army man pointed to a door at the end of the corridor.

  
“So, what’s your name?” she asked as she followed him down the corridor.

“You can call me the Captain.” He said briskly before standing aside and motioning her to go through the door.

She walked through the door… and promptly considered walking right back out again once she saw the amount of ghosts there ‘I haven’t seen this many ghosts in one place since my Hogwarts days.’ she thought to herself.

  
“Uh… hi?” she uttered.

Suddenly the ghosts surrounded her.

A black woman in a fancy dress spoke first “Ooh, it’s so nice to have a new person around! Are you staying long?” she gasped, exited “can we have a sleepover? I’ve asked Alison and she said we could have one soon but it would be ever so nice to have one with you!”

Overwhelmed by the situation, Rebecca latched onto one of the things the woman had said “Wait a minute; Alison can see you?!” she gestured to all the ghosts surrounding her “All of you?”

“Well yes, she can” said a ghost who was wearing a Muggle Boy Scouts uniform and had an arrow through his neck “As to the reason why, well it involves Julian” here he gestured to a ghost who had no pants on for some reason “and a window.”

“So, she wasn’t always able to see you?” asked Rebecca.

“No, why?” asked the Scout Leader ghost.

“Well, the reason I ask is because I’ve always been able to see ghosts and wondered if she had also inherited the ability.” Rebecca explained.

Suddenly, a woman who looked as though her body was smoking screamed “The Devils instrument! She be a witch!” she shouted while pointing at Rebecca’s wand. ‘Oh shit- I’d forgot I brought it with me’ she panicked silently.

“Please calm down Mary; I’m sure there’s a rational explanation as to what that object is.” Interjected the Captain “So” he stated, clearing his throat “What is the instrument in your hand?”

“Well actually-“ she turned to the smoking woman “Mary is it?” at Mary’s nod she continued “Mary’s right- I am a witch.” Rebecca stated, sounding calm.

“This woman is obviously mentally unwell and I believe it would be best if we avoid her.” Said Julian, who was currently lounging on a chair.

“Well” began Rebecca, rounding on Julian “Do you want an demonstration?”

“Absolutely not! I will not have my house be used in this manner!” shouted a very angry looking woman in a plain dress.

“Go on then” mocked Julian “Do *magic*.” He waggled his fingers mockingly.

Rebecca pointed her wand in the chair Julian was sitting in as he continued smirking, thinking that nothing was going to happen.

“Incendio!” she shouted as flames shot out of her wand and set the chair that Julian was sitting on fire.

“WHAT THE HELL!” shouted Julian as he jumped up from the chair- forgetting that as a ghost he can’t be harmed by the flames.

Rebecca waited a few seconds until the chair was obviously smouldering.

“DO SOMETHING! Shouted Julian.

“Could you put out the fire please?” asked the Scout Leader ghost, who looked as though he was panicking quite a bit now.

Rebecca smiled “Aguamenti.” She muttered, pointing her wand at the flaming chair. A jet of water shot out and covered the flames, putting them out.

“So” stated Rebecca, holding her wand in her clasped hands “Do you believe me now?”

All the ghosts nodded.

“Nice- Oh, I never got some of your names. I mean, I know Julian, the Captain, Thomas and Mary” she looked at each of them in turn “But I don’t know the rest of you.”

The black woman who had assaulted her with questions earlier stepped forward “I’m Kitty; it’s lovely to meet you. I’ve never met an actual witch before- this is so exiting!” she sounded incredibly exited.  
“Ok, Kitty, cool” she then pointed to the Scout Leader ghost “and you?” she asked.

“I’m Pat; it’s remarkable to meet you- if you ever need anything just let me know.” He, too, sounded exited.

“Thank you Pat; it’s nice to meet you too.” Said Rebecca, put at ease by his friendly demeanor.

“And you?” she asked of the plain looking older woman.

“My name is Lady Fanny Button; I own this house and I refuse to have such activities going on within it! It’s bad enough with Alison and her buffoon of a husband around the place- I will not have you and your… unnaturalness in this house as well!” the woman ranted.

“Ok, 1) I will not allow Alison and Mike to be insulted in my presence- they’re good people! And 2) I understand that you may not understand nor want magic in your home as you’ve never experienced it before but I will not stand here and be insulted!” stated Rebecca, looking angry.

Fanny huffed and walked through the wall.

“Sorry about that guys; won’t happen again” said Rebecca, sounding genuinely apologetic. She rounded on the last member of the ghostly troupe, who had so far said nothing. “And you are?” she asked kindly,

“Me Robin” said the man in furs.

“Robin huh- you’ve been here a long time, haven’t you?” Rebecca asked, looking strangely sad. At Robin’s nod she looked even sadder.

“Oh, the poems I could construct of romance and magic- fine masterpieces filled with adventure!” Thomas exclaimed suddenly. “I knew there was something special about you! It drew me to you and you to I! Why else would you not harm me when you awoke to me watching over you?!”

There’s not much magic that can harm a ghost to be fair Thomas, besides I didn’t think you could be malicious- not really.” explained Rebecca.

“Oh… but you’re not denying that there is something between us?” Thomas looked incredibly hopeful.

“Thomas… you’re dead. Even if I felt something for you (and considering we’ve known each other for less than an hour I doubt I do); it wouldn’t work between us- I’m sorry.” Rebecca looked truly sorry and reached out to Thomas before remembering herself and dropping her hand.

“WHY MUST I CONSTANTLY BE SPURNED!” Thomas shouted dramatically before running off.

“Right; well this has been fun but I’m going back to bed.” Said Rebecca, yawning.

“Yes, excellent idea; everyone- to bed with you!” ordered the Captain.

As the remaining ghosts shuffled off to wherever they slept the Captain turned to Rebecca “Well, that was certainly very interesting thank you!” He suddenly looked very awkward “You know, we never asked you’re name- how terribly rude of me!”  
Rebecca smiled “My name’s Rebecca Wilson- it’s nice to officially meet you and the other ghosts Captain.”

The Captain cleared his throat before turning on his heel a walking out of the room.

‘This is certainly going to make life more interesting!’ thought Rebecca as she got back into bed ‘but how am I going to explain this to Alison? I can’t keep this from her- no doubt the ghosts will let her know what happened tonight but at the same time it’ll be a headache for me- and the Ministry!; oh God, the Ministry is gonna have a fucking field day with this!’

She sighed ‘there’s no point in worrying just yet, I’ll think of what to say to Alison tomorrow’. With that thought she rolled into her side, closed her eyes and thought no more.


	4. Confessions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Waves awkwardly* So, I’m not dead! Hooray! Seriously though, I’m so sorry it took me so long to post this; I have no excuse and I hope you can forgive me. With that said here’s the next chapter and please do enjoy. Feedback is always appreciated so don’t hold back.

Chapter 4- Confessions

As Rebecca awoke that morning she had a blissful few seconds of not remembering what had occurred the night before; as her senses returned to her however, so did her memory.

‘Ah’ she thought to herself ‘I had hoped that it was all some convoluted dream- well time to face the music.’

She dragged her exhausted body out of bed and headed downstairs towards the kitchen.

As Rebecca came down the main staircase, she heard a conversation from the kitchen to the left and decided to listen in- ‘Might be a good idea to not reveal myself first’ she thought ‘I may be able to play this off as the ghosts being ridiculous.’

Alison’s POV.

I deliberately set my alarm to wake me up earlier than usual in order to have a chat with the ghosts before Rebecca woke up- admittedly I wasn’t sure when that was so I set my alarm for 5am just in case; probably the stupidest decision I had EVER made as I really am not a morning person but I had to talk to them about whatever it was that happened last night. All that shouting kept me awake- a particularly heinous crime (oh God, Fanny’s rubbing off on me!) as it’s the weekend and the only time Mike and I get to actually spend time together.

As I walked into the kitchen Kitty appeared in front of me. Before she could get a word in edgeways I decided I needed to do this as quickly as possible.. “Kitty!” I exclaimed “Could you get the other ghosts in here please?” She looked rather sad that I didn’t want to engage in small talk but I really did need to gather the others as soon as possible.

Just as I was stating to feel guilty about being short and to the point with her, she perked up. “Oh Alison! You won’t believe what happened last night!” She sounded incredibly enthused but then again Kitty always does.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you guys about.” I explained “So could you get the others in the kitchen please?” Kitty nodded and was just about on to go through the opposite wall when a thought struck me. “Just the other ghosts Kitty.” I knew that if I hadn’t specified just then who it is that I wanted then she would waste time trying to interact with Rebecca and Mike; I couldn’t have that as with every minute Kitty spent fruitlessly trying to talk to them the less time I had.

A few minutes of nervous waiting later, all the ghosts had assembled in the kitchen.

“Alright guys” I started, taking a seat at the table “what was happening last night? All the shouting kept me awake- is it similar to the Moonah thing? Because we agreed that-.” Suddenly I was cut off by Mary.

“She’s a witch!”

I turned to Mary. “Who’s a witch?” I had my suspicions but I had to hear it from her.

“Your cousin.” interrupted the Captain, he said it so matter of factly that I honestly had to do a double take- he was the last person I would expect to be taking this seriously.

“Really?” I asked sceptically “and do you have any proof of this?” Honestly I was trying not to laugh, the Captain looked so serious.

“Actually, we do!” piped up Julian. ‘Really? Julian too?’ I thought ‘What is going on here?’

“And what is the proof?” I asked, I couldn’t believe I was actually entertaining this idea but I needed to know what was going on.

“The chair was set on fire last night.” said Pat.

“Yeah?” I asked “then why didn’t I smell burning? That sort of damage would cause the whole place to be set on fire!”

“W-well, she did put it back out again.” Pat stuttered, looking anxious.

“Convenient.” I muttered. They obviously weren’t willing to tell me what happened last night, which was odd as Kitty seemed to really want to. Suddenly I knew what to do.

“Kitty.” I rounded on her. “You wanted to tell me what happened last night yeah? Could you please tell me what happened? The shortened version please.” I knew if I had just let her ramble on we’d be here forever.

“Oh it was so exiting! She showed us ~magic~.” she whispered, sounding both awed and whimsical at the same time- like all her dreams had come true. “She even set the chair that Julian was sitting on on fire!” she giggled.

“Guys, seriously!” I was starting to get frustrated “Tell me what the hell is going on!”

“What we told you is all true!” exclaimed Thomas “Do you not believe us dear Alison?”

“I want to, honestly I do but if that were true then why wouldn’t she tell me? We’re family for God’s sake!” My voice started to break at the thought of my own cousin lying to me.

“Because there are laws against it.” A sudden voice spoke from the doorway and I turned around to see Rebecca standing there.

She waved awkwardly “Hi.” she squeaked.


	5. Feelings and explanations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! I know it’s been a while but I was preoccupied with moving house so this fell to the wayside; hopefully I’ll be able to update this more frequently from now on.

Chapter 5- Feelings and explanations.

 

Rebecca’s POV.

 

As Alison and the ghosts turned towards me I suddenly felt incredibly exposed.

 

“What exactly does THAT mean?!” Alison sounded extraordinary angry with me (understandably so) so I decided to just rip the plaster off, so to speak.

 

“It means” here I paused, not quite knowing how to fraise this without sounding either insane or like I was lying. “That the others are right”.

 

“ _W-what others?!”_ She sounded as though she were bordering on historical.

 

“The ghosts Alison; I know you can see them too” I said as soothingly as I could manage, as I too was slightly panicking.

 

“ _I have no idea what you’re talking about!”_ She was becoming more hysterical by the minute and I knew I had to calm her down before she made herself ill.

 

“Captain” I turned to him, knowing that he was the most likely out of all of them to be deemed the rational one by Alison.

 

He straightened to his full height “Yes?” He sounded as professional as ever but his face gave him away as being simultaneously worried for Alison and oddly proud to be addressed by another living person.

 

“Tell Alison what occurred last night, if you would?” I asked softly.

 

“Of coarse” he cleared his throat “Well, last evening we made a pact- find out what was happening with your cousin; she seemed suspicious and we needed to know what her angle was and whether she was a threat.” At my annoyed look he hurriedly added on “not that we believe that now, of course!”

 

“Anyway” the Captain continued “we agreed that Thomas would keep watch as we theorised that, if she could see us, then Thorne would be the one most likely to annoy her into acknowledging us.” Here neither myself nor Alison could contain our laughter; meanwhile Thomas looked indignant about the teasing but said nothing. “We didn’t know that she could use magic until Thorne came bursting in babbling about it- of course I didn’t believe this, unlike some others I could mention.” (here he looked at Kitty who didn’t seem fazed  by the attention). “Julian then insulted the woman who proceeded to set the chair he was sitting on on fire.” The Captain’s lips twitched at this but soon schooled his features into a more neutral expression. “Unfortunately, she put it out soon after- once she had secured an apology from Julian of course.” He seemed to deflate after the explanation, almost as though the idea of magical beings hadn’t quite hit him until that moment.

 

After a moment of digesting the information the Captain had supplied, Alison finally replied “Y-you really can see them, can’t you?” She sounded confused and- broken. ‘Oh **_Alison_**.’ I thought sympathetically; after all, it’s not every day you find out that you aren’t the only person strange things happen around. I was suddenly reminded of the feeling I got when I found out what I was, I assumed it was similar to what Alison was feeling now.

 

“Yes, I can.” I hoped that being as straight with her as possible would help her digest the information.

 

“And the-“ her she paused “ _magic”_ she whispered the word, almost as though she were worried that speaking the word too loudly would make it real.

 

“Yes, I am a witch.” I stated.

 

“Prove it.” She sounded confident but her posture conveyed her anxiety.

 

“Okay” I said “Do you trust me right now?” I asked, I had an idea but I didn’t want to just do it without her trusting me.

 

“I- honestly, I really don’t know.” Suddenly she looked enraged “You **lied** to me Rebecca, for years! **How** **dare you ask me to trust you!** ”

 

I know, but I really had no choice! Do you really think I would lie to you if I had a choice in this?!” I tried to be empathetic to her viewpoint but her implying that I would deliberately lie to her did admittedly make me rather irate.

 

“I don’t know!” She shouted, suddenly she looked exhausted “I feel as though I don’t know you anymore…” She sounded so defeated just then that I couldn’t help but feel hatred- whether it was for myself for lying or to the Ministry for forcing me to do so I really couldn’t say.

 

 

“Listen” I softened my voice, hoping to not provoke her further. “There is a way that I can prove it to you but if I did it here then they would come here and take your memory of me away.” Here Alison an the ghosts looked horrified but I continued on before they could interrupt. “But I’m hoping if I go to the Ministry and explain the situation- including the fact that you can see ghosts- then they’ll be more likely to let you in on the secret”.

 

“What’s the Ministry?” Asked Alison.

 

“The Ministry is like the UK Government-essentially they make laws and ensure that we follow them.” I explained “One of those laws is what’s referred to as the Statute of Secrecy; basically it’s to insure that Muggles (that is, non magical people) don’t find out about magic. Usually, once a Muggle finds out about magic; the Ministry sends out people named Obliviator’s to wipe the person’s mind of magic, thus keeping the secret. However, what I’m hoping is that if we go there directly then they’ll be more likely to listen to us.” I held out my hand. “What do you say Alison? Want to do this on our own terms?”

 

“Okay” Alison took my hand.

 

“Whatever you do, don’t let go.” I warned her.

 

“Wait, what are you-“ before she was able to finish the question I turned on my heel and Apparated us both away, leaving the stunned ghosts behind us.


End file.
